Unions eye construction jobs for hockey arena

DENISE SANCHEZ, THE MORNING CALL

(L toR) Craig Lewis, of Cattasauqua and Kevin Lewis, of Lower Macungie, both members of Carpenters Union Local 600, attended a building trades meeting about the creation of union jobs at the Ice Hockey Arena Open House held at the Dieruff High School Cafeteria on Thursday.

(L toR) Craig Lewis, of Cattasauqua and Kevin Lewis, of Lower Macungie, both members of Carpenters Union Local 600, attended a building trades meeting about the creation of union jobs at the Ice Hockey Arena Open House held at the Dieruff High School Cafeteria on Thursday. (DENISE SANCHEZ, THE MORNING CALL)

Supporters cite hundreds of thousands of new downtown visitors, a whole slate of new entertainment options from hockey to rock concerts and spin-off businesses that could boost the struggling center city economy.

For local union leaders whose members' livelihoods have been decimated by the collapse of the real estate market, one thing trumps all that: an estimated 500 construction jobs.

Several dozen Lehigh Valley Building Trades members rallied Thursday night at Dieruff High School at the start of the third of Allentown's three arena open houses to praise the project for the jobs it would create, and to call for the arena to be built by union labor.

"This is going to create a lot of work for us and all construction workers out there," said Kevin Lott, business agent for the Lehigh Valley Carpenters Union Local 600, who said a third of his members have been out of work for longer than a year.

While they said they have been given no promises by city officials, union leaders said they are confident a majority of the work —expected to generate $25.4 million in wages— will go to their workers. And their members desperately need it, they said

One way to guarantee that would be to complete the work under a project labor agreement, an umbrella contract that requires construction companies to use union labor and follow union work rules.

"Is it set in stone? No," Lott said. "Would we like to see [a project labor agreement]? Yes."

Unions say the agreements produce quality, cost-effective and on-time work by trained tradesmen who are hired from local union halls.

Nonunion contractors have a much different opinion, calling them politically motivated deals that hurt competition by steering public construction projects to union firms. The Associated Builders and Contractors of Southeastern Pennsylvania, which represents nonnion contractors, has sued Allentown in federal court over a city ordinance that requires project labor agreements on all large construction jobs.

That ordinance is not expected to apply to the arena project because it is being spearheaded not by the city but the Allentown Commercial and Industrial Development Authority and private developer Hammes Company Sports Development Inc. of Madison, Wisc.

If it excludes nonunion companies from competing for the work, Allentown will get fewer bids, hurting its ability to get the best price on construction, said Jeff Zeh, the group's president.

"The one thing now, margins are pretty slim, public entities are getting good prices," Zeh said. "All we ask for is a level playing field and the opportunity to bid fairly."

It's unclear how arena construction contracts will be awarded or if they will be publicly bid. ACIDA Executive Director Scott Unger said he was not prepared to discuss how the authority would select a general contractor or subcontractors for the project, but that details would be forthcoming in the next few weeks.

Union workers will be a significant part of the workforce, said Rob Robinson, project manager for Hammes group. "We're definitely in support of using union labor, local labor," Robinson said. "That's an important part of these projects."

Robinson said the pool of contractors capable of building a project as large as an arena is limited, making it difficult to simply open the work up to all comers.

"This is a very specialized project," Robinson said.

Zeh said he was under the impression that ACIDA had no plans to authorize its own project labor agreement for arena construction, but the authority is expected to be replaced later this month or early in 2012 by a newly created Neighborhood Improvement Zone Development Authority.

The nine-member board would include appointees agreed upon by Mayor Ed Pawlowski, State Rep. Jennifer Mann and Sen. Pat Browne.

Hundreds more construction jobs could be created within the 130-acre Neighborhood Improvement Zone that includes the arena by private office, retail and residential projects. The zone allows builders to tap future tenants' state and local non-property taxes to repay construction loans.

Counting construction materials such as steel beams, reinforced concrete, seats and other furnishings, Hammes estimates the project could produce the equivalent of 1,760 jobs statewide, paying more than $90 million in wages.

City officials hope the 8,500-seat arena, which will be at Seventh and Hamilton streets, can be opened in 2013 in time to host the first game of the American Hockey League's Phantoms, the Philadelphia Flyers' top farm team that is now playing in Glens Falls, N.Y.

ACIDA is on the verge of inking an arena lease with Jim and Rob Brooks, the Phantoms' owners, and demolition of the structures in the footprint of the arena is expected to begin later this month.